Texas-Based Search Team Assisting in Lauren Spierer Case
By Alex Brown - alex@wibc.com | @WIBC_AlexBrown
6/13/2011
Bloomington Police continue to receive more help in the search for missing IU student Lauren Spierer.
Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery is a volunteer group that helps search for missing persons in rural areas. They are now in Bloomington to help find Spierer.
EquuSearch founding director Tim Miller, speaking with 93 WIBC's Ed Wenck on Indy's Afternoon News, says they are a service meant to assist law enforcement.
"We know when something like this happens that they are busy doing an investigation and really don't the manpower, the budget or the resources to put together and manage a search of this magnitude," Miller says.
Miller says he told Bloomington Police to not tell them why they are being sent to a specific area to search in order to avoid any leaks on the investigation getting out.
EquuSearch uses several means to conduct searches including horse and rider, ATV and diving teams. They also use planes, helicopters and small drone airplanes for aerial searches.
Miller founded EquuSearch in 2000 and the group's mission is dedicated to Miller's daughter Laura, who was abducted and murdered in 1984. The nonprofit group has over 1,000 members and has been involved in over 1,100 searches in 42 states and other countries such as Jamaica, Mexico and Sri Lanka.
